An osteophyte (sometimes called a “bone spur”) is a projection that can form on a bone of a joint when an animal's body attempts to better distribute weight across a surface that has been damaged by arthritis or other conditions. Osteophytes can limit joint motion and contribute to joint pain, and they can become increasingly more restrictive and painful as they grow. Historical approaches to the removal of osteophytes from hard to reach areas have required difficult contortions of affected joints and tedious manipulations of cutting tools.
For example, FIG. 1 (prior art) shows a lateral view of a simplified prosthetic knee 10 (including a distal femoral component 20, a meniscial component 30, and a proximal tibial component 40) and FIG. 2 (prior art) shows a historical removal of an osteophyte 50 from a posterior condylar region 60 in preparation of a distal femur 70 for receiving the distal femoral component 20 of FIG. 1. After end portions of the distal femur 70 and a proximal tibia 80 have been removed and the remaining surfaces have been planed or otherwise reshaped to receive the prosthesis, the historical approach has required hyperflexion of the knee joint to gain access to the osteophyte 50 with a cutting tool 90, followed by manual reciprocation of the cutting tool 90 to remove the osteophyte 50. The extreme flexions of the knee joints have been difficult to achieve for patients with large thighs and/or other physical limitations, and the manual operations of the cutting tools have been tedious and time consuming.